Hey guys, I have a 1982 Honda 185s. I bought it from an 80 year old man that had it in a shed out at his farm. He said that "it just needs something in here", pointing to the CDI area. He was hard to understand and I have messed with a few small engins in the past so I blew him off. I just wanted to get my new toy home and ready for deer and ice fishing season. Well, I tore the carb down and cleaned it, changed oil and spark plug, took the old nasty brittle air cleaner off, and still wont start. I got a new carb for it, have spark, and compression. I pull the thing and it still wont even pop for me. I have used starter fluid and even just a little gas in the cylinder and still nothing. I am at a loss here, any ideas please send them my way.

 

i think the 185 had a decompression for starting is it hard or real easy to pull the starter rope

 

Thanks for the thought. It is easy for me to pull.

 

I would try another spark plug, sometimes a plug that well fire on the outside well not fire under compression

 

Did you figure it out yet I have the exact same problem and what worked?

 

I have not figured it out yet, but I havent spent too much time on it either. Its one of those things that I look at and scratch my head. I spoke to one guy that recomended removing the spark plug, shooting a little oil in the cylinder, and pulling it over a few times to get things well lubed and help the seals. This is a trick for things that were running and then sat for a while, I think that mine stopped running and then sat for a while.

 

o I figured it out today my old spark plug had spark but I seen to try new one and first pull it started so hopeful yours is as simple as that.

 

It sounds to me like a weak CDI unit. What I would do is get an ohmmeter and conduct some tests. If you don't have a service manual, you can download one from the internet, or, go to 3WheelerWorld.com. There is a ton of information on that site.

Good luck!

 

I have an '80 atc 185 (no s) that needs top end work I cannot afford right now (burns oil and has no power in high gear) my plug looks like crap because of the oil constantly fouling it and even a brand new plug has a very dull yellow spark you can barly see. Yet even if put the old dirty looking plug back in it, the beast will fire off in just a pull or three. So my question is how can a plug shooting a big blue spark not fire the engine?

 

I had an '82 ATC 200 with the same issue.... Bad stator behind flywheel. I rode the trike every day for a couple years & one day it fired a couple tines & wouldn't start. Tried new plug, coil CDI box & pulse generator pickup without luck. Put a new stator on last & it fired up with 1 pull & has been good since. It also had spark with the bad stator.

If yours won't fire up with a shot of gas in the carb I'd say you have a spark issue. Try the easy & cheap things first but it sounds to me like you have a weak stator/coil or something along those lines...possibly a bad pulse generator pickup. if it's got good fresh gas & the timing is correct (which it probably is unless you adjusted it) it has the symptoms of weak spark, it might look strong when you have the plug out but not strong enough to run under compression.


Easily overlooked easy fixes:

-sparkplug wire not connecting (loose end on coil or plug)
-bad sparkplug (I've had some new plugs that didn't work)
-rust behind pulse generator cover (says CDI on the side of the engine)
-loose timing chain jumped a couple teeth (make sure the "T" on the flywheel is at the top when the "0" mark on the cam gear is at the top).

*note: I have never had a bad CDI unit & had spark, I have experienced that spark=good CDI